Anti-BDS legislation violates free speech (COMMENTARY)
Religion News Service
Anti-BDS legislation violates free speech (COMMENTARY)
David Wildman | April 15, 2016
http://www.religionnews.com/2016/04/15/anti-bds-legislation-violates-free-sp
eech-commentary-184837/(RNS) State legislatures across the country are
considering a spate of bills that would blacklist companies (and, in the
case of New York, individuals) that support the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement, which tries to impose economic pressure on Israel to end
its occupation of Palestinian land.Such repressive legislation threatens the
right of all Americans to engage in boycotts and other economic acts of
conscience.
Churches, student and faculty groups, musicians and artists are among the
groups legislators seek to silence. The United Methodist Church could find
itself on these blacklists. We have advocated for BDS and four years ago our
General Conference voted to boycott products made in Israeli settlements
built illegally on occupied Palestinian land. Recently, the United Methodist
Church divested from two Israeli banks and added three others to a
no-investment list due to their ties to settlements.
In May, United Methodists will once again debate a resolution calling for
divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestinian
lands and other human rights abuses. Other denominations, such as the
Presbyterian Church (USA) and United Church of Christ, have recently done
the same.
According to the nonprofit Palestine Legal, more than 20 state legislatures
have introduced bills that would punish persons, organizations and/or
companies publicly supporting boycotts related to Israeli human rights
abuses.
States such as Illinois, South Carolina and Florida have already passed
anti-BDS bills, with Illinois recently becoming the first state to publish a
blacklist.
In many cases, these bills also include clauses containing language such as
"territories controlled by Israel," in an attempt to legitimize Israeli
settlements built on occupied Palestinian land in conflict with
long-standing official U.S. policy, international law and United Methodist
Church policy.
Churches have a long history of supporting boycotts and divestment as forms
of nonviolent, moral action addressing human rights violations. I have
participated in boycott and divestment actions for 40 years: against
Nestle's marketing of infant formula in impoverished communities; against
companies exploiting farmworkers and companies using slave labor; against
Shell oil for its violations in Nigeria; against companies profiting from
apartheid in South Africa; and against companies operating in Israeli
settlements. United Methodists and many others have participated in these
moral nonviolent movements.
Boycotts, by definition, comprise public campaigns to urge others to join
together to change behavior of companies and governments. Any given boycott
is only as strong as the number of people supporting it. Boycotts embody the
heart of First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of assembly.
As more people become fed up with expanding Israeli settlements supported by
unconditional U.S. military aid, boycotts of Israeli human rights abuses are
gaining momentum.
Proponents of the anti-boycott bills recognize that advocating for
divestment is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. Yet in a
dangerous development, they seek to empower state governments to punish
selectively some who exercise their First Amendment rights.
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Years ago, Sen. Joseph McCarthy also had a list and sought to punish
artists, labor leaders and public officials. Many people lost jobs and had
their reputations destroyed by this anti-democratic, repressive fear
campaign. The climate of fear, both in McCarthy's day and today, is
sustained primarily by the silence of the majority.
Under the proposed Pennsylvania bill, universities that endorse BDS could
lose state funding. And in New York, United Methodist and Presbyterian
churches may find they are blacklisted from receiving state funds for food
pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters because their denominations
support a boycott of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements.
Similarly, people boycotting Turkey for its violations against Kurdish
communities would potentially be denied state contracts.
The heart of democracy involves addressing the toughest issues of our day
through contentious, sometimes raucous, free speech and not through
government-imposed selective intimidation.
Perhaps even more disturbing than actual passage of bills - they are
unconstitutional and could be struck down by the courts - is the willingness
of many legislators to introduce and push through legislation that creates
such chilling effects on free speech. With almost no debate, legislatures
are adopting blacklists with the intention of silencing people speaking out
for Palestinian freedom and equal rights.
Image removed by sender. David Wildman, photo courtesy of David Wildman
It's time for legislators to break the silence. My own congressman, Jerrold
Nadler, has attacked free speech and tried to intimidate Columbia University
faculty and students who advocate for BDS.
To all legislators considering repressive anti-BDS legislation, let me say
this: If you insist on creating a blacklist, put my name on it. I stand with
all who exercise their free speech through nonviolent actions of boycott and
divestment to extend human rights.
We went through the McCarthy era once. Surely, we do not want to re-create
those grim days.
(David Wildman is executive secretary of the Middle East, Human Rights and
Racial Justice group for the United Methodist Church's Global Ministries.
His views are his own)
